


the king of the skies

by vai_the_trooper



Series: tales from the fifth fleet (Monster Hunter: World x TWICE) [2]
Category: Monster Hunter (Video Games), TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Monster Hunter: World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:26:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24135055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vai_the_trooper/pseuds/vai_the_trooper
Summary: nayeon, jihyo, and sana hunt a rathalos
Relationships: Chou Tzuyu/Son Chaeyoung, Hirai Momo/Minatozaki Sana, Im Nayeon/Yoo Jeongyeon
Series: tales from the fifth fleet (Monster Hunter: World x TWICE) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728037
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	the king of the skies

When Jeongyeon told Nayeon about the Rathalos problem, she didn’t hesitate to take up the quest. Not only did she need some materials to get an upgrade to her switch axe, she also wanted to let out some pent up anger. It was a Rathalos that had ruined her life back in the Old World, so to find out that they’re here in the New World too gave her the opportunity to at least get some closure. 

Jihyo had her doubts about letting Nayeon take the quest, knowing her history with the Rathalos species, but Sana was more than happy to help. Now that Nayeon had two other fellow hunters with her, she felt more confident in succeeding with the hunt. She would’ve brought Chaeyoung and Tzuyu too, but they needed to recover from their injuries.

“Alright you three, stay sharp out there.” Jeongyeon said as she and Momo saw the three hunters off from the camp. “Especially you, Nayeon. Keep yourself together, okay?”

“Don’t worry, Jeongyeon, I got this.” Nayeon replied as they walked away.

“Hey Sana! Can you keep an eye out for any blue mushrooms too while you’re out there?” Momo yelled.

“I will!” Sana yelled back as they exited the camp and headed off into the Ancient Forest.

“Okay! Thank you!” Momo yelled again.

“Wow, you’re really keen on the whole “collecting everything edible in the New World” thing, huh?” Jeongyeon remarked.

“Yep! Once I catalogue them all, I’m gonna revolutionize the culinary world. Well, the culinary “New World”, so to speak.” Momo answered before walking over to the campfire. “Anyway, wanna try this new recipe I made? It’s got liver in it!”

Jeongyeon had only heard that Momo was a really good chef, so she agreed to try whatever Momo came up with, even though it did look a little gloopy and chunky.

\--

Meanwhile, Jihyo, Nayeon, and Sana made their way up the gigantic ancient tree in the middle of the forest. 

“Alright, get your flash pods ready. The moment that thing goes airborne, we blind it and knock it out of the sky.” Jihyo said as they were approaching the Rathalos’s nest at the top. “Nayeon, you sure you still wanna do this?”

“Of course I do.” Nayeon said as she loaded a flash pod into her slinger. “I’ve waited way too long to do this. I’m not gonna let this chance slip by.”

“Okay, but we’ll still keep an eye out for you.” Jihyo said as they arrived at a clearing. They immediately hid behind the cover of some branches to peek over and find their target. It was resting on its nest, looking out at the forest as if it were a benevolent ruler watching over its kingdom. Nayeon certainly didn’t think it was royalty, though. It may be the apex predator in a lot of ecosystems, but as far as she was concerned, it was still just a beast.

They all unsheathed their weapons and readied themselves to strike. They left the bush and slowly approached the beast, hoping to catch it off guard, but unfortunately, it turned around and let out a roar that shook the ground beneath them.

The moment Nayeon caught a clear glimpse of the monster, the sight of its face sent a shiver down her spine. Its left eye was closed shut from an apparent injury marked by an old, nasty scar that ran from above its eyelid down to its mouth.  _ It’s been years since I last saw a Rathalos. This can’t be the same one, right? It can’t be! _

She wished she was wrong. The moment it charged them, a painful memory resurfaced, one that made her drop her weapon and freeze in fear. Luckily, Jihyo noticed just in time and managed to get between Nayeon and the Rathalos to block the incoming headbutt with her shield, knocking her and Nayeon backwards. Sana managed to sidestep the charge and get beneath the beast to unleash a flurry of slashes into its belly and keep its attention off of Nayeon and Jihyo.

“Nayeon! What happened?! I told you, you didn’t need to come!” Jihyo shouted as she put her gunlance down and checked to see if Nayeon was okay. “Go head back to camp, we’ll keep its eyes off of you so you can-”

“N-no.” Nayeon interrupted, still reeling from the memory. “I-i can do this.”

“You clearly can’t!” Jihyo said as she stood back up and picked up her gunlance before raising her shield. “Go! We’ll handle this.”

Nayeon couldn’t do anything as her fellow hunters charged into battle. Paralyzed by fear, she could only watch as Sana and Jihyo went in to take the beast down. She gripped her right arm where that same Rathalos left a mark on her years ago, further sending her down a spiral of painful memories. The beast razed her hometown back in the Old World and left her with a horrifying burn, forever reminding her of that day.

It was the sight of the beast’s tail knocking both Jihyo and Sana down that snapped her back into reality. She watched as Jihyo staggered towards Sana to cover them with her shield, seeing that the monster was rearing up to send out a blast of fire from its mouth. 

The thought of being unable to save the people she cared about again put her back on her feet, making a silent promise to never let her fear get to her again. She picked up her switch axe as she ran towards the Rathalos and landed a solid downward smash into the monster’s head, making the monster’s fire blast miss them and hit the tree behind them. This left her with enough time to help Jihyo and Sana back on their feet.

Jihyo was left stunned with what Nayeon had just done as she and Sana stood up. “Nayeon, I-i told you to-”

“I can’t leave you two behind.” Nayeon interrupted. “I’m not letting this thing hurt the people I care about anymore.” 

Sana’s eyes widened, trying to process what had just happened. “Nayeon, that was insane! Now let’s go finish the job, shall we?”

“With pleasure.” Nayeon replied as the three of them readied themselves before once again charging the Rathalos with renewed fervor. Jihyo ran ahead and fired a volley of rounds into the monster’s side, keeping her shield up as she did. Nayeon dodged and sent an upward swing into the monster’s chin. The monster retaliated by swinging its tail at them, but this time they knew better. Jihyo and Nayeon dodged away, but Sana took it as an opportunity to use the monster’s tail as a platform and mount the beast, unleashing a storm of slashes into it.

After some struggle, the monster managed to shake her off before going airborne. It let out a beastly roar as it circled around them in the sky.

“Nayeon! Time to put that trick we practiced to the test!” Jihyo yelled as she reloaded her gunlance.

“Are you sure?! We’ve only managed to do it once against the training pillar!” Nayeon yelled back.

“Trust me! We can do it!” Jihyo replied as the beast began to fly lower and lower.

“Okay, but if this goes wrong it’s your funeral!” Nayeon said as she planted the head of her switch axe diagonally into the ground. “Sana! Once Jihyo sends this thing crashing down, you aim for the wings.”

“Okay!” Sana responded as she readied herself. The monster flew even lower as it opened its mouth, preparing to unleash hellfire once again. Nayeon looked over at Jihyo and nodded, signaling her to go. Jihyo broke into a sprint towards the moment the Rathalos flew low enough, then upon stepping on the wide head of Nayeon’s switch axe as a platform, she used it as a launching pad as Nayeon swung upwards, sending her barreling towards the beast. 

She managed to land on top of the beast before stabbing her gunlance into its back and firing a Wyrmstake round into it, severely wounding the beast before making her way to its head and firing a flash pod straight into its good eye, blinding it and sending them crashing back down. Jihyo jumped off and landed safely by using her shield to break her fall before all three of them began one last skirmish to end the King of the Sky’s reign of terror.

Sana did as she was told, crippling the beast’s wings with a graceful dance of blades. Jihyo reloaded her gunlance again and fired another volley of rounds into its face to further weaken it. Then Nayeon, with every intent to finish the job, switched to the sword form of her switch axe and impaled the blade into the monster’s head before firing a fully charged blast from it, finally killing the Rathalos.

Nayeon let go of her weapon, leaving it in the monster’s head as she fell on her ass and sat down, finally relieved that it was all over. Sana and Jihyo walked up to her and sat next to her as well, taking the moment to catch their breaths.

“It’s finally over. You did it.” Jihyo said as she sheathed her weapon and gave Nayeon a pat on the back.

“No,  _ we  _ did it.” Nayeon replied. “I couldn’t have done it without you two. Literally.”

“Hey, you gotta give yourself some credit too.” Sana said. “You pulled through! And that’s definitely something to be proud of.”

Nayeon felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from her chest, finally getting back at the beast that had taken so much from her. She took a deep sigh as she got back up on her feet. “Well, I think I wanna head back now. Sana, can you go to Jeongyeon and Momo to tell them to just meet us back at base?”

“Alright, I’ll be quick. I’ll probably pick the mushrooms Momo was asking for while I’m at it. See you two back at base!” Sana said before standing up and heading off.

Nayeon pulled Jihyo back up on her feet as they approached the monster’s head. She held her weapon by the handle, taking a moment to process everything before pulling it out from the dead Rathalos’s head.

“You okay?” Jihyo asked as Nayeon sheathed her weapon.

“Yeah, I guess.” Nayeon said as they walked away to head back to base. “Though I’m sure we’re gonna get another earful from the Chief Ecologist for not bringing it back alive.”

“Eh, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind…” Jihyo said. “...probably.”

They chuckled at the thought before continuing their walk back to base.

_ I did it, Jeongyeon. Everyone can rest easy now. I wish you could’ve seen it, but you’re gonna have to settle with us simply telling you about it. _

  
  


\---------

  
  


“Nayeon!” Jeongyeon yelled, wrapping her in a tight hug as they arrived at their living quarters. “Oh my god, y-you’re okay.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” Nayeon said as she returned the hug, resting her head on Jeongyeon’s shoulder. “I told you we got this, right?”

“Oh, they’re back!” Chaeyoung said as she entered with Tzuyu in tow. 

“Hey, you two.” Nayeon said as Jeongyeon let go of her. “How’s your arm doing, Tzuyu?”

“It’s getting better, though Chaeyoung won’t stop pestering me to let her draw on my sling.” Tzuyu said.

“C’mon, please?” Chaeyoung said as she moved behind Tzuyu to give her a backhug. “Pretty please? I promise it’ll look great.”

“Ack! Cut it out! You’re hurting my arm.” Tzuyu said as she flinched, making Chaeyoung let go.

Jihyo, Nayeon and Jeongyeon shared a laugh as they watched Chaeyoung get all fussy with Tzuyu while still trying to convince her to let her draw on the sling.


End file.
